Parish Council Meeting Minutes
MEETING OF CHOLMONDELEY & CHORLEY PARISH COUNCIL HELD ON 16 SEPTEMBER 2019
(THE MEETING WAS HELD VIA VIDEO-LINK IN ACCORDANCE WITH REGULATIONS INTRODUCED UNDER THE CORONAVIRUS ACT 2020)
| PRESENT: | Councillor A D Fennell Councillor C Baker Councillor A Gresty Councillor R Keys Councillor S Langton | Chairman Councillor C Crossley Councillor C Hopley Councillor C Nickson Councillor P Probin |
| APOLOGIES: | Councillor C Farquharson |
97 DECLARATION OF INTERESTS
Members were asked to declare any disclosable pecuniary interest, personal interest or non- pecuniary interest which they had in any item of business on the agenda, the nature of that interest, and in respect of disclosable interests, to leave the meeting prior to the discussion of that item.
No declarations were made.
98 MINUTES
RESOLVED: That the Minutes of the Meeting held on 21 July 2020 be approved as a correct record.
99 DISTRIBUTION OF SELECTAMARK KITS
DEFERRED to the November 2020 meeting.
100 PUBLIC QUESTION TIME
In accordance with the Parish Council’s Standing Orders (i.e. its Constitution) members of the public were able to ask a question of make a statement, both of which must relate to matters which fell within the remit of the Parish Council.
There were no questions from members of the public.
101 WEBSITE ACCESSIBILITY
(Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018)
At the previous meeting, the Clerk was asked to review the contract currently held with Coderra.
David Proctor, the owner of Coderra had sent the following information to the Clerk and Councillors Chris Baker and Chris Nickson and this indicated that Coderra could continue to host, and that Councillors Baker and Nickson could make any changes to the website which they felt were appropriate, and approved by the Parish Council.
The website is built on WordPress which is a content management system. The website is fully the Parish Council’s to do with it how it wishes, whether that is functional, aesthetic or text changes. Admin users can change anything on the website from the text, widgets, menus, add/remove plug-ins, change the template etc. A quick look shows that Chris Baker and Carol Jones were both Admins while Chris Nickson was set as an editor. David Proctor has up-graded his access to Admin.
If there is functionality the Parish Council requires on the site which does not currently existing, Admin users have the access to add ‘plug-ins’ which are coded functions available for free, e.g. one plug-in might offer social icons, another may offer advanced WordPress security. Equally if the Council believes it is time that the website look and feel should be up-dated, Councillors Baker and Nickson have access to update the ‘theme’ which is the template the website runs on.
David Proctor advises that if this is the course of action to be taken, the website should be cloned onto a development domain so that this does not jeopardise (‘break’) anything on the live website.
Mr Proctor has only been hosting for quite some time now and this includes emails, backing it up, securing it, updating the CMS, SSL certificate renewal, plug-in updates and so on. He has only been adding content on request and has not been involved in the day-to-day running of it.
If the Council wishes to add more functionality to the website and is struggling to see how, he is available by email or phone to guide Members through the process. Equally, with the new website accessibility requirements, if the audit is shared with him, he can advise on how best to tackle those, or do it for the Council.
He is of the view that there are some plug-ins which would solve most of the accessibility issues on the website.
The Parish Council discussed the matter, as this related not only to accessibility of the website, but also to its functionality. Councillors Baker and Nickson spoke to the item, having now prepared an accessibility statement for the website. They reported that the website would be compliant by 31 December 2020.
The Parish Council was recommended to appoint an alternative hosting company to enable the connection with Coderra (the current hosting company) to be severed. Councillor Baker recommended the IONOS package which cost £1 for a year, and then £7 per month plus VAT for subsequent years.
The contract would be for one year initially and the Parish Council could then review it..
RESOLVED:
(a) That the Public Sector Bodies (Website and Mobile Applications) (No. 2) Accessibility Regulations 2018 Accessibility Statement be approved for uploading onto the website;
(b) That the Parish Council commence with the IONOS package on 30 September 2020;
(c) That the new website be created and be operational by 31 December 2020;
(d) That the contract with Coderra be cancelled;
(e) That Coderra be asked to transfer the domain name to the Parish Council; and
(f) That all arrangements be put in place following the transfer of the domain name.
102 FINANCIAL MATTERS
102.1 Authorisation of Payments
RESOLVED: That the following payments be approved:
| £80.00 | HMRC – Tax on Clerk’s salary Two quarters |
| £200.00 | C M Lanes – Net salary for the quarter 1 July – 30 September 2020 |
102.2 Receipts and Payments Statement – 1 April 2020 –
The Parish Council received a Receipts and Payments Statement for the period 1 April – 31 July 2020. The bank reconciliation was noted:
| Opening Balance 1 April. 2020 ADD Precept Bank interest ADD back u/p chq. 2019-2020 | £5,189.91 £2,550.00 £2.06 £20.00 | Reserve Account Current Account | £4,682.23 £50.00 |
| £7,761.97 | £4,732.23 | ||
| LESS Payments | (£3,394.98) | LESS U/p cheques | (365.24) |
| £4,366.99 | £4,366.99 |
103 PLANNING APPLICATIONS
The Parish Council was invited to comment on the following planning applications:
| 20/3718N | Old Hall, Cholmondeley Park, Cholmondeley SY14 8HB Landscaping works to the garden surrounding Old Hall, including re-laying of the drive, new hard and soft landscaping, fencing, and the construction of six garden structures: orangery, garden room, timber store, timber garden store, wood store, swimming pool and glass house. |
| 20/3719N | Old Hall, Cholmondeley Park, Cholmondeley SY14 8HB Listed building consent for Landscaping works to the garden surrounding Old Hall, including re-laying of the drive, new hard and soft landscaping, fencing, and the construction of six garden structures: orangery, garden room, timber store, timber garden store, wood store, swimming pool and glass house. |
RESOLVED: That no observations be made in respect of planning applications Nos. 20/3718N and 20/3719N.
104 NEIGHBOURHOOD PLAN
The Parish Council received the following Minutes of the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group.
- Minutes of the Formal Steering Group meeting held on 21 July 2020.
- Minutes of an Informal Meeting held on 1 September 2020.
The Steering Group held a meeting on 15 September 2020 and agreed the contents of aquestionnaire which was now submitted to the Parish Council.
RESOLVED: That the Neighbourhood Plan questionnaire be approved for printing, and hand- delivery to households in the parish.
105 COVID-19 UPDATE
Following the Government’s revised regulations, which became law on 14 September 2020, the Parish Council received a copy of the latest information which had been downloaded from the Gov.uk website.
106 BOROUGH COUNCILLOR W S DAVIES
It was reported that Borough Councillor Stan Davies was unable to attend the meeting and had indicated that he would not be attending remote meetings but would resume attendance when face-to-face meetings re-commenced.
107 APPOINTMENT TO WRENBURY CONSOLIDATED CHARITY
Further to the discussion at the meeting on 21 July 2020, it was reported that the only requirement for a representative on the Wrenbury Consolidated Charity was simply any person in the parish who would be interested in taking on the role, formerly carried out by Roger Blake.
If anyone were interested, the first step would be to provide the name and contact details to the Charity, and the Secretary would then deal with the arrangements.
No names were suggested. This item would be placed on the agenda for the next meeting.
108 BUDGET 2021-2022
The Parish Council was asked to consider budget items for 2021-2022. At the meeting to be held in November 2020, the Council would be asked to approve its budget.
No suggestions were made at this time.
109 DATE OF NEXT MEETING
26 November 2020